Basic Facts:
Birth: February 9, 1773 at Berkeley Plantation, Charles City County, Virginia
Death: April 4, 1841 at Washington, D. C.
Married: Anna Tuthill Symmes (1775-1864) on November 22, 1795
Children: Ten: Elizabeth, John Cleves, Lucy, William, John Scott, Benjamin, Mary, Carter, Anna, and James
President: One term beginning March 4, 1841
Quote: “The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.”
Family:
William Henry Harrison married Anna Tuthill Symmes and they had ten children. The couple apparently had a happy marriage, or at least a fruitful one, having had 10 children and 40 grandchildren. Tragically, most of their children died young, one in infancy, and seven in their 20s or 30s. Only two lived beyond age 35, and only one beyond 50. Nine of their 10 children preceded her in death, and six of the 10 preceded him.
- Elizabeth “Betsy” (1796-1846) married John Cleves Short in 1814. One child born 1815; died 1816.
- John Cleves (1798-1830) married Clarissa Brown Pike in 1819. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 3 daughters. He died on 30 October 1830, in Boone, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 32.
- Lucy (1800-1826) married Judge David Kirkpatrick Este on 30 September 1819. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 1 daughter. She died on 7 April 1826, at the age of 25.
- William (1802-1838) married Jane Findlay Irwin. Two children Adeline and James. He died at age 36.
- John Scott (1804-1878) In 1824, he married Lucretia Knapp Johnson (1804–1830). They had three children. On August 12, 1831, in Cincinnati, Ohio, he married Elizabeth Ramsey Irwin (1810–1850). He and Elizabeth had 10 children: the second was
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the U.S. - Benjamin (1806-1840) He married Louisa Smith Bonner about 1827, in Ohio. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He died on 17 June 1840 at the age of 33
- Mary (1809-1842) married Dr. John Henry Fitzhugh Thornton on 5 March 1829. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 4 daughters. She died on 16 November 1842 at the age of 33
- Carter Bassett (1811-1839) married Mary A Sutherland on 15 June 1836. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He died on 12 August 1839 at the age of 27
- Anna (1813-1845) married Col. William Henry Harrison Taylor on 16 June 1836. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 8 daughters. She died on 5 July 1865, at the age of 51
- James (1814-1817) unknown cause
Other
William Henry Harrison, our ninth President, is best known for having the shortest term of office. Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841 and died on April 4, just one month into his tenure.
Born on Feb. 9, 1773 in Charles City County, Virginia, William Henry was the youngest of seven children of Benjamin Harrison and Elizabeth Bassett Harrison. His father was a wealthy planter and politician who had signed the Declaration of Independence and was Governor of Virginia at the end of the Revolutionary War. They lived at Berkeley Plantation.
For a short time, William studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia. When his father died in 1791, William joined the U. S. Army. He was stationed at Fort Washington (now called Cincinnati).
While there, he met and married Anna Symmes, daughter of a wealthy landowner. Her father opposed the marriage so the young couple eloped and were married on Nov 25, 1795.
They subsequently had ten children; only four were still alive when William was inaugurated as President: Elizabeth, John Scott (father of future President Benjamin Harrison), Mary, and Anna.
Anna was frequently in poor health during the marriage, yet she outlived William by 23 years, dying on February 25, 1864 at 88.
In the years 1795-1840 Harrison was a soldier/politician. He frequently left the military to hold office in the Northwest Territory, rejoining the Army to fight several Indian Wars and the War of 1812.
As a military man, Harrison is credited with the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1795 which led to Native Americans giving up their claims to the land of the Northwest Territory, the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 which he fought against the Indian Confederacy led by Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, and the War of 1812 where he won the Battle of the Thames, retaking Detroit from the British.
As a politician he was responsible for initiating treaties with Indians in which the United States gained 60 million acres. Harrison was instrumental in opening up these new territories at low prices to encourage settlement, leading the statehood for Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. He attempted to introduce slavery into the Indiana Territory but his efforts were thwarted by the anti-slavery movement, financed by Thomas Jefferson.(per Wikipedia)
The election of 1840 pitted Harrison against incumbent Martin VanBuren. Harrison represented the Whig Party, VanBuren was a Democrat. This election was the first to use modern political campaign tactics such as campaign songs, slogans, and give-aways. It became known as the Log Cabin and Hard Cider Election.
Trying to paint Harrison as a hard-drinking frontiersman, the Democrats claimed he’d “prefer to sit in a log cabin with a barrel of hard cider.” The Whig party adopted the slogan, giving away whiskey in bottles shaped like a log cabin and promoted the image of Harrison as a simple man of the people and a war-hero while VanBuren was an “out of touch elite”. In fact, Van Buren came from a modest background while Harrison was born into wealth.
Equally ironic was the fact that at one time Harrison owned a whiskey distilery but was dismayed at the effect whiskey had on his customers so he terminated the business and never drank again. There is speculation that he had a stomach ulcer and could not tolerate hard alcohol.
In keeping with his campaign image, Harrison rode to his inauguration on horseback. He wore neither an overcoat nor hat, and delivered the longest inaugural speech in American history. Three weeks later he became ill and died on April 4, 1841. In was assumed that Harrison died from pneumonia but “a medical analysis made in 2014, based on Dr. Miller’s notes and records of the White House water supply being downstream of public sewage, concluding that he likely died of septic shock due to enteric fever.” Wiki.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Harrison
Harrison was the first president to die in office. There was widespread disagreement as to whether the Vice President, John Tyler, would become president or merely “acting President”. The Constitution did not stipulate whether the Vice President could serve the remainder of the President’s term, until the next election, or if emergency elections should be held.
Anna Harrison was ill at the time of her husband’s inauguration so remained in Ohio, planning to travel to Washington in May. She is the only First Lady who never entered the White House. She was granted a $25,000 pension as the president’s widow.
In Ripley’s Believe It or Not published in 1931, it was noted that presidents who were elected every twenty years following Harrison had all died in office. (Lincoln elected in 1860; Garfield in 1880; McKinley in 1900; Harding in 1920, Roosevelt in 1940, Kennedy in 1960); It became known as “Tippecanoe Curse” or Tecumseh’s Curse”.
Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin Harrison, became the 23rd President of the United States from 1889 to 1893.
Harrison was the first president to die in office and had the shortest term of office.
Harrison was the only president who studied to become a doctor.
Harrison’s father was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Harrison and his vice-president Tyler are the only president and vice president born in the same county.
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Sources:
Internet Public Library
Family Search
Greenman, Barbara. The Timeline History of U. S. Presidents and First Ladies. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2009.